Executive producer Eric Kripke explains where the NBC drama is heading this season

Season 2 of “Revolution,” last year’s breakout hit for NBC, is intended to feel very different from last year.

The drive to turn the power back on has been tabled for now. But if that quest isn’t driving the characters anymore, then what is?

“You have to give the Patriots time to take their masks off,” showrunner Eric Kripke told TheWrap after a press screening at NBC’s Los Angeles offices.

The Patriots, which claim to be the remnants of the former U.S. government, have presented themselves as guardians of what the country used to represent. But they also seem to be behind the missiles that were launched on last season’s finale, which destroyed Atlanta and Philadelphia on the Season 2 opener.

“I grew up and sort of got my training through ‘Supernatural.’ I’m basically a fan of the Joss Whedon school of showrunning. That’s how I learned, ” Kripke said, referring to The CW drama he created and what he has gleaned from Whedon, the man behind cult hit “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and the current fall success, “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”

“You organize a season around a ‘big bad’ and then you unveil more and more about the ‘big bad’ as the season moves on. You live in the first half of the mystery of who are these people and what do they want and then you live in the second half of the season [saying], ‘OK, now we have to stop these sons of bitches.'”

The producers took a look at Season 1 and made changes for story and production reasons that have planted most of the characters in one location. The series is now for the most part set in and shooting in Austin.

“We got back to a more realistic, grittier version of what the world would be,” Kripke said. “And so all those things, settling our characters into one town, getting to know these characters, letting things evolve and play out, keeping things tense but not so tense you can’t have a conversation about how you feel and then we can get to know who these characters are.”

Season 2 asks viewers to consider a different goal for the show that gestures to the opening titles where the word “evolution” appears before “Revolution,” according to the show boss.

“Ultimately, the goal of the show is that you can’t go back to the way things were. And ultimately, you have to look forward,” he said.

“There needs to be something new that has to grow from the ashes of something old. And when you return back to the old, it’s stasis and stagnant,” he continued. “So, ultimately that will be the grand sweep of the show. For now, we’re enjoying taking a break from the drive to turn the power back on. It’s nice to take a break. But, that will come up again inevitably, but ultimately they have to let that go and build something new, which is what Charlie [Tracy Spiridakos] and Jason [JD Pardo] represent.”

“Revolution” airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on NBC.

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